


What She Deserves

by mochegato



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Maribat - Fandom, Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Jasonette, John Constantine Being an Asshole, Pre-Relationship, Protective Jason Todd, but a helpful one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2020-11-07
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:14:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27438664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mochegato/pseuds/mochegato
Summary: Marinette and John Constantine get close and Jason does NOT approve.
Relationships: Jason Todd & John Constantine, John Constantine & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Jason Todd
Comments: 6
Kudos: 168





	What She Deserves

**Author's Note:**

> From the prompts “Have you lost your damn mind!?” and “Please, don’t leave.” From @sophie-herondale. Sooo, this went longer than expected and as it is more than a couple hundred words, there is some angst, but happy ending!  
> Uh… this fic includes Jason and Constantine so…. There’s a bit of swearing.

“Have you lost your damn mind!? What the hell was that?” Jason demanded pulling Marinette’s arm back to stop her from walking away and force her to look at him.

When she finally looked back into his eyes, her eyes ripped into him. He squared his shoulders and set his expression waiting for her to lash out at him. “You’re going to have to be more specific, _Red_.” She spat out the nickname like an insult. “Which ‘that’ are you referring to exactly? The agreeing to hang out with you? The getting ignored all night? The not getting _nearly_ drunk enough? The talking to people who actually showed an interest in me? The trying to make friends? The dancing with friends? Which one? There are so many ‘thats’ from tonight, I don’t know which one you mean.” She stalked closer to him with each sentence, but since he refused to back away as she did, she was now flush against him, looking almost straight up to glare at him.

“I meant taking John fucking Constantine’s goddamned phone number. Which is probably literally goddamned, by the way.”

“You have a problem with John? You seemed to be fine with him a little bit ago. You had no problem with him when you invited him tonight. What changed?” She snapped at him.

He stepped back to give himself some space. It was hard to think when she was so close to him. He couldn’t form coherent thoughts when he could feel her pressed against him. “Well for one thing, he’s old enough to be your dad…”

“You’ve slept with older…”

“…second, he’s totally morally questionable…”

“So is everyone else you know.”

“…third, he can’t be trusted…”

“That’s the same as the second.”

“…fourth, he’s an asshole…”

“Name someone you hang out with that isn’t.”

“…fifth, he smokes…”

“… so was almost everyone else in that room…”

“sixth… sixth? Yeah, sixth, he is drinks his weight in alcohol…”

“You really want to throw that stone?”

“…seventh, he is unrepentantly violent…”

“Oh, you really _do_ want to go there.”

“eighth, he is nowhere near good enough for you.”

Anger flared in her eyes. She stepped closer again to jab her finger into his chest. “You don’t get to decide that. I decide that. And I decide that someone who pays attention to me and is concerned about me is good enough for me.”

“He isn’t.” He growled back.

“Oh? And who is?” she demanded, throwing her arms out. “Tell me, who should I be talking to, oh Wise One, oh Knower of Others’ Worth. Who do I deserve to be with?”

He stared at her for a few moments, mind racing to come up with an answer to that question. Who was good enough? Who would he approve of? “Nobody,” he whispered out looking at her earnestly.

She looked at him in shock. Her face quickly shifted to hurt, then morphed into a carefully constructed blank expression. “Good to know. Thank you.” She said unemotionally, as though he had just told her the weather. She turned around quickly and moved down the street as quickly as she could without actually running.

He watched her leave wondering what caused the shift in mood. Was she really that appalled by the idea of him thinking that highly of her, of his opinion of her? Was he that reprehensible that a good opinion from him was a red mark on her? She was probably right, but it still hurt to know she believed it too.

“That was a sight to behold, mate.” John said as he lit his cigarette behind him.

Jason whipped around to face him. “You should be ashamed, you fucking pedophile.”

“I’m not going to argue with the rest of what you said about me, but she’s over 18. So _legally_ , it isn’t pedophilia.” He stared unimpressed as Jason growled at him and pushed him against the wall, pushing his forearm into his throat to keep him there. “It’s just creepy as fucking hell and disgusting. She’s young enough, technically, she could be my granddaughter. I’d rather skin myself.”

Jason eased up on his hold, confused about the change in attitude. “I didn’t give her my number to shag. She has some information I want. I have information she wants. We’re going to meet up tomorrow and exchange information. Magical information.”

“You were dancing with her,” Jason narrowed his eyes at him.

“She wanted to dance and _nobody else_ was volunteering to dance with her. Actually, nobody else seemed to want to be around her, almost like they were afraid of upsetting _someone_ if they got too close.”

“You don’t dance.”

“She was sad.” He shrugged. “Apparently, she was getting ignored by some twat and she needed someone to be nice, platonically. My hands never wandered from her hands. She needed someone to confirm she wasn’t the wanker, he was. More specifically, the wanker that just told her she deserved to be alone.” He looked at Jason pointedly. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got an appointment tomorrow and I’d like to get pass out drunk with enough time to get some sleep before that.”

He easily pushed a stunned Jason off of him. Jason stared at a point on the wall. That isn’t what he had said was it? He replayed what he had said again. He said nobody deserves her. She asked who she deserved to be with and he said nobody, because nobody was good enough to deserve her. Mother fucking FUCK. He hadn’t added that last part.

He raced down the street in the direction she had gone. He needed to find her. He needed to fix it. He couldn’t believe how stupid he was. This is exactly the kind of thing that proved he didn’t deserve her. She had to know that. She had to know she was better than him and his friends. He finally caught up with her a block away from her apartment.

“Marinette, stop!” He yelled to her as he ran.

She continued walking, the only indication she had heard him was a slight stutter in her step and an increased pace. He moved in front of her and held his hands up in a placating gesture, trying to catch his breath from having run for blocks to catch up to her. “Wait, please.”

“You’ve said enough tonight, don’t you think?” She said coldly.

“No,” he begged. He looked down at her face and the sight broke his heart. She had wiped away the tear tracks, but she couldn’t hide the red that lined her eyes and branched out throughout her eyes. He had done this. He made her cry. He silently cursed himself. “That didn’t come out the way I meant it.”

“It’s fine Jason. Don’t worry about it. I just want to go to bed.” She said tiredly, refusing to look in his eyes. She moved to get past him again. He backed up so he wasn’t preventing her from walking, but was still in front of her. He wanted her to understand but he was not willing to make her even more uncomfortable.

“Please, don’t leave. Please listen.” He begged her, but she kept walking forward. He moved out of her way and allowed her to continue. He clenched his fists and let out a frustrated breath. He looked up to her retreating back and tried one last time. “I meant nobody deserves someone as amazing as you.” He called after her. “I meant you are too incredible for anyone I know. I meant… I meant you are brilliant and kind and talented and hilarious and strong and sassy and everything that is good in this world. I meant… I meant you deserve better.”

Sometime during his speech she had turned to look at him, her mouth opening slightly, forming an ‘oh’. She blinked a few times and looked down to gather her thoughts. When she looked back up at him her eyes had softened. “That sounds awfully lonely, up on that pedestal all on my own. I don’t want to be up there by myself. I don’t want to be up there at all.”

“Sorry, Pixie, but to me you are perfect. You always will be. So even if you’re a monster in the mornings and you can’t say no to anything to the point that you overload yourself into anxiety attacks and you like horrible TV shows and three drinks has you falling over drunk and you have terrible taste in who you let get close to you, you will still always be perfect to me.” His voice grew gentle as he spoke. He moved closer to her as he spoke until he was close enough to brush a strand of hair behind her ear and cup her cheek. 

She reached up to lay her hand on his and looked at him eyes shining with tears again. “Why have you been avoiding me? Why didn’t you speak to me all night? All week?”

“Because you deserve better than me. I was trying to back away so you could find someone who deserves you. Someone smart, like you. Someone with a kind heart, like you. Someone who would give their shirt to help someone else, like you. Someone who makes you smile, like you make everyone around you smile. Someone who makes you unabashedly, breathlessly, wildly, happy …”

“Like you,” she cut in before he could finish, tears spilling over again. “That describes you.” She reached up to twist her hands around the back of his head and pull him down to her lips. She put all her passion and love into her kiss, kissing him desperately, hungrily. He wound his hands around her hips and pulled her closer to him, pressing her body to his as he fiercely returned her kiss. 

They pulled away when they could no longer go without air. He pressed his forehead to hers and shook his head gently. “I don’t deserve you.”

“I decide what I deserve and although I don’t think I’m good enough for you, I want to believe I deserve to be happy. And you make me happy.” He shook his head vehemently. She cupped his face to slow his motions and spoke before he could deny it. “I don’t want to argue about that tonight. I don’t want to debate worth and mistakes tonight. Tonight I want to kiss you.” She leaned up to place a chaste kiss on his lips. “Tonight I want to be close to you…” she moved her hand to the back of his neck to play with his hair. “… and snuggle up with you while we watch television. Because I have amazing taste in shows.” She grinned up at him.

He chuckled and shook his head, “You really don’t.” He gave her a gentle smile and caressed her cheek. “But, I’d endure worse for you.”


End file.
